Court Orders NYPD to Release Hundreds of Shooting Reports

The NYPD will be forced to release more than a decade of reports detailing incidents of police shooting at civilians as the result of a State Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday. Since 1997, there have been more than 800 incidents of officers firing at civilians.

The release is the result of a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and will include information on well known cases like the 1999 shooting of 22-year-old Amadou Diallo, who was shot at 41 times and hit with 19 bullets, as well as less publicized incidents in which no one was hit.

"When a police officer fires at a civilian, it is good for the public and good for the police for there to be full disclosure of the facts," NYCLU Associate Legal Director Christopher Dunn said in a release. "This order will make that happen."

The NYPD argued that the reports would expose confidential investigative methods and could silence witnesses.

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